Imperial Metals acquires interest in uranium deposit

Imperial Metals has picked up an 18.7% beneficial interest in the Crow Butte in-situ uranium deposit in Nebraska. With reserves estimated at over 40 million lb and capital/ operating costs expected to be less than $10(US) per lb, the company feels it will compete with production from anywhere in the world.

The Crow Butte project is currently in the pilot plant stage and negotiations are being completed for the purchase of a commercial scale plant. The Imperial Group is the largest shareholder in the project and ultimately will retain a 60% interest, representing over-all control. The property should be in commercial production sometime in 1990 at an initial rate of 500,000 lb per year.

Imperial’s land position in the region also includes a 20.4% interest in the adjacent Big Red in-situ leach uranium project which is also at an advanced stage. Reserves of 15 million lb uranium oxide have been identified there.

The company recently sold its 10% interest in the Imperial Group’s Wheeler River uranium prospect in Saskatchewan for a net gain of $510,000 which will appear in fourth quarter results of fiscal 1987. It has also sold a 4.6% interest in the Hog Ranch gold mine to Western Goldfields, the project operator. A net gain of $1.2 million will result from this sale in the last quarter.

Operating revenues for the three months ended Dec 31 were $727,000 and the loss for the period was $112,000. Cash flow from operations was $168,000 compared to $842,000 the previous quarter. The decline in operating revenues was attributable to lower oil and gas revenues, says the company.